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A Fish Primer

A Fish Primer. WMAN 445 Intro Fish Management August 31, 2006. Why Study Fish?. Academic Most diverse group of vertebrates Most ancestral vertebrate group Understanding their evolutionary relationships helps us understand the more derived groups Applied

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A Fish Primer

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  1. A Fish Primer WMAN 445 Intro Fish Management August 31, 2006

  2. Why Study Fish? • Academic • Most diverse group of vertebrates • Most ancestral vertebrate group • Understanding their evolutionary relationships helps us understand the more derived groups • Applied • Commercial and Recreational Fisheries • Aquatic Health Indicators

  3. Great Species Diversity • 25,000 species (28,500) • More than any other vertebrate group • 4,000 mammals • 9,000 birds • 7,000 reptiles • 5-6,000 reptiles Total of other vertebrates = 25-26,000 • 1 of every 2 vertebrates is a fish

  4. Great Diversity in… • Size (blenny – whale shark) • Shape (sea horses, rays, eels) • Habitats occupied (streams, ponds, rivers, bays, ocean, reefs, caves, thermal springs) • Feeding habits (benthic, engulfers, shredders, cleaners, parasites, omnivores) • Reproduction (oviparity, viviparity, sex reversal, semelparity, sneakers, mimics)

  5. Earth’s water 97% ocean 2.99% ice 0.01% freshwater Why are so many fish species found in freshwater? Isolation limits gene flow—speciation events occur Diversity of habitats and evolutionary niches Fish Distribution 41% freshwater 58% marine 1% diadramous / euryhaline World Distribution of Fishes

  6. N.A. Distribution of Fishes • About 950 species • 75% occur in the eastern U.S. • Mississippi River drainage most diverse • Tennessee drainage most diverse • Atlantic slope least diverse • New / Kanawha River basin “relatively diverse”

  7. Fishes in Peril • Fastest declining vertebrate group • Dams • Pollution • Habitat Alteration • Introduced species • Over harvest

  8. Fishes in Peril

  9. What is a Fish? • Aquatic • Poikilotherm • Gill Breathing • Single-Loop Circulation • Vertebrate/Craniate • Fins (as opposed to pentadactyl limbs)

  10. Fish Classification • Binomial Name • Genusspecific epithet name of describer & year • E.g. Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque 1819 • E.g. Lepomis megalotis (Rafinesque 1820) • Lepomis = scale shoulder • megalotis = large ear

  11. Classification in General • Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species • Higher taxonomic level the more inclusive of groups • Reflects natural evolution of groups

  12. Fish Classification • Kingdom: Animalia • Phylum: Chordata • Subphylum: Vertebrata • Superclass: Agnatha • Order: Petromyzontiformes • Family: Petromyzontidae (Lampreys) • Most primitive, no jaws, parasitic, non-parasitic, eel-like • Superclass: Gnathostomata • Class: Chondrychthys (cartilaginous fishes) • Class: Osteichthyes (bony fishes) • 24,000 living forms • Largest class of vertebrates

  13. General Characteristics of Bony Fishes • Lungs • Fish evolved in tropic freshwater environments • Modified into buoyancy organs (swim bladders) • Bone • Secondarily replaced by cartilage in paddlefish, sturgeon • Bony scales • Lost in many species (sculpins) • Lepidotrichia • Segmented structural supports for fins; soft fin ray

  14. Subclasses of Osteichthyes • Sarcopterygii (lobe finned fishes) • Ancestor to tetrapods • Actinopterygii (ray finned fishes) • Infraclass Chondrostei (sturgeons, paddlefishes) • Order Acipenseriformes • Acipenseridae: sturgeons • Caviar, cartilaginous, bottom feeder, long-lived, slow growth • Polyodontidae: paddlefishes • Planktivores, carnivores, long sensory snout, little native habitat • Infraclass Neopterygii (modern ray finned fishes) • 4 diverse lineages • Division Teleostei—main line of fish evolution

  15. Order Lepisosteiformes • Lepisosteidae: gars • Needle-like teeth • Voracious predators • Amiiformes • Amiidae: bowfins • Gulp air to fill air sac which is highly vascularized

  16. Teleosts • Order: Anguilliformes • Anguillidae: freshwater eels • Jawed fish, catadromous • Order: Clupeiformes • Clupeidae: herrings/shad • Threadfin and gizzard shad (Dorosoma) • Alewife and American shad (Alosa) • Planktivorous • Marine, anadromous, can live in freshwater • Blocked by dams, introduced as prey

  17. Teleosts • Order Cypriniformes • Cyprinidae: minnows and carp • Most diverse family (>2,000 species; 286 in N. A.) • 57 species in WV • Many are small • Breeding coloration, tubercles, nest building • Catostomidae: suckers • Bottom feeders, fleshy lips • Diverse in large rivers

  18. Teleosts • Order Siluriformes • Ictaluridae: N.A. catfishes, bullheads, madtoms • Barbles • Largest freshwater fish family entirely indigenous to N. America • Economically important: fishing and farming Pylodictis olivaris

  19. Teleosts • Order Esociformes • Esocidae: Pikes (Esox) • Lie-in-wait predator • 4 species, games fishes Chain Pickerel,  Esox niger

  20. Teleosts • Order Salmoniformes • Salmonidae: salmon, trout, char, whitefish • 3 species in 3 genera • Oncorhynchus: Pacific salmon and western trout • O. mykiss: rainbow trout (steel head) • Salmo trutta: brown trout • Salvelinus fontinalis: brook char • Strong “homing” tendencies • Introduced widely • Cold water stenotherms

  21. Teleosts • Order Cyprinodontiformes • Fundulidae: killifishes • Poeciliidae: livebearers, topminnows • Internal fertilization (gonopodium), live birth • Guppies, Gila topminnow and mosquito fish • Cyprinodontidae: pupfishes • Most are endangered • Estuarine in origin • Desert pupfish: endemic to desert spring environments as water dried up over geologic time

  22. Teleosts • Order Gasterosteiformes • Gasterosteidae: sticklebacks • Territorial nest builders, elaborate courtship • Cottidae: sculpins • Large pectoral fins • No swim bladder • Cottus: freshwater sculpins • cool-cold water streams • Bottom dwelling invertivore Cottus bairdi

  23. Teleosts • Order Perciformes • Moronidae : temperate basses • Morone saxatilis: striped bass: anadromous • Economically Important

  24. Teleosts • Order Perciformes • Centrarchidae: sunfishes, black basses • Second largest fish family indigenous to N.A. • Sexually dichromatic • Hybridize • Economically important • Lepomis: sunfish • Pomoxis: crappie • Micropterus: black bass Pomoxis nigromaculatus Micropterus salmoides Lepomis cyanellus Pumpkinseed, Lepomis gibbosus

  25. Teleosts • Order Perciformes • Percidae: perches, walleye, darters, saugers • Brilliant colors in darters • Darters are benthic invertivores • Economic importance of walleye, perch • Channidae: snakeheads • Voracious predators, “swim” over land • Northern Snakehead (Channa argus) • http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/fishingreport/snakehead.html Etheostoma blennioides Sander vitreus

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